by Dave Williams | Jan 10, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The General Assembly will convene under the Gold Dome on Monday with the usual mix of old and new business on its plate.
Supporters of perennial to-do items including tort reform and legalized sports betting will be back for another crack at getting their favorite causes through the legislature and to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
At the same time, new demands for funding for victims of Hurricane Helene and to improve conditions inside the much-maligned state prison system will vie for attention. Lawmakers also will be asked to respond to the school shooting in Barrow County last September with legislation aimed at ensuring safe storage of firearms.
Kemp has made tort reform a major priority for the second year in a row. The General Assembly passed a Kemp-backed bill last year directing the state insurance department to gather data on legal trends affecting insurance premiums and prepare a report.
At a roundtable with small business leaders last August, the governor vowed to use that data to help craft legislation aimed at reducing “runaway” jury awards that drive up premiums business owners struggle to pay.
Opponents warn that if carried too far, tort reform threatens to rob Georgians injured in car crashes or by medical malpractice of their day in court.
“Ensuring that Georgia remains the No.-1 state for business while also protecting the rights of consumers requires a balanced approach to litigation reform,” said House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington. “We will be driven by the facts, gather input from constituents and stakeholders from across the state and look at thoughtful, data-driven solutions to balance the scales.”
Legalized gambling is another issue the General Assembly has taken up repeatedly in recent years without passing. Armed with a new poll showing widespread public support for legalizing sports betting, an alliance of sportsbooks including FanDuel and DraftKings will be back asking lawmakers to legalize what already is legal in 39 other states.
“Illegal sports betting is happening in the state, but they don’t pay taxes,” said Scott Ward, a national expert on sports betting and counsel to the alliance. “People are realizing this is here. We need to put guardrails around it, regulate it, and tax it.”
Faith-based organizations also will be back at the state Capitol opposing legalizing sports betting on moral grounds and as an economic threat to Georgians addicted to gambling.
While tort reform and legalized gambling have sparked annual tussles in the General Assembly, new demands to tap into Georgia’s bulging budget surplus promise to play major roles in 2025.
In Athens last month, Kemp pledged to unveil a Hurricane Helene disaster relief package at the beginning of the legislative session. The massive storm struck South Georgia and spread north through the Augusta area in late September, killing 34 and causing heavy rainfall and widespread flooding as well as extensive power outages.
“We’ve gone through probably the most damaging storm in our history … lasting and generational damage,” the governor said. “We saw unbelievable damage and communities that will probably never be the same.”
The importance of improving conditions inside Georgia’s prison system was brought home Jan. 7 when Kemp and state Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Olive asked lawmakers to pony up $372 million to hire more correctional officers, raise the salaries of those already on the payroll, and invest in infrastructure upgrades needed to improve the health and safety of inmates.
The spending request was highly unusual, coming before the start of this year’s legislative session, but Kemp and legislative leaders see the need as critical following the release of a U.S. Justice Department audit last fall accusing the prison system of violating inmates’ constitutional rights by failing to protect them from widespread violence.
“We need to make sure our guards are adequately compensated,” Burns said. “(Also, inmates) need to be protected when they go to prison.”
The legislature also is expected to respond to the mass shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder last September that killed two students and two teachers. A fellow student was arrested at the scene and charged with the murders, while his father faces criminal charges for allegedly letting his son possess the AR-15 style rifle used in the killings.
While the Republican-controlled General Assembly is not likely to support legislation requiring gun owners to buy trigger locks or gun safes to safely store their firearms, a proposal to offer tax credits as an incentive to those who do enjoys broad support.
But state Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, who chaired a Senate study committee on safe firearm storage last year, said that’s not enough. Jones said lawmakers should require school districts to improve how they communicate with each other when a student moves into a new school.
Colt Gray, the 14-year-old student arrested in the Barrow County case, had recently transferred to Apalachee High.
“When a kid transfers to a new school system, any information his former school system has doesn’t automatically get transferred to the new school system,” Jones said. “That needs to be changed.”
by Dave Williams | Jan 10, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is taking his efforts to improve mail delivery in Georgia to the state’s veterans.
“In addition to issues with receiving prescription medications over the mail, I have heard from constituents that notices for Veterans Affairs claim exams are not being delivered in a timely manner,” Ossoff wrote in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy dated Wednesday. “These notices with time-sensitive information, such as appointment information, must be delivered on time.
“Access to medical information in a timely manner is vital for the wellbeing and health of all veterans who have served our nation. “I urge you to investigate these issues specific to veterans’ health care.”
Ossoff has been pressuring DeJoy for nearly a year to resolve delays in mail delivery Georgia families and businesses have been facing.
Delays first surfaced last winter after the postal service opened a new regional mail distribution center in Palmetto. In April, Ossoff reported that only 36% of inbound mail handled by the center was being delivered on time.
DeJoy attributed the delays to problems launching a postal service restructuring plan aimed at making the agency financially self-sufficient. He put the plan on hold while the postal service works to resolve the issues encountered in Georgia.
While DeJoy said last May the problem would be fixed within 60 days, Ossoff said during a Senate committee hearing last month that he is still getting complaints of delays in delivering important mail.
Ossoff introduced legislation last September that would make the position of postmaster general subject to a presidential appointment with confirmation required by the Senate, similar to other administration positions.
President-elect Donald Trump has talked about privatizing the postal service.
by Dave Williams | Jan 10, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia emergency management officials and motorists appear to be heeding the example of “Snowmageddon” – the snowstorm that paralyzed the state in 2014 with hours-long traffic jams and multiple collisions.
The state Department of Transportation (DOT) started treating roads and highways with brine on Wednesday, two days before snow began to blanket the northern half of Georgia with accumulations up to several inches in some areas. Traffic was light, with schools and government offices closed.
“We have learned a lot of lessons,” Chris Stallings, director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), told reporters Friday morning during a briefing at the State Operations Center in southeast Atlanta. “We stayed in front of it.”
Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said DOT crews have treated more than 20,000 miles of roadways with more than 770 tons of salt. Interstates are getting top priority, followed by highway ramps and state routes, he said.
The goal is to clear two lanes of highway, enough so motorists can get through, McMurry said.
“We can’t clear the roads immediately, (but) we’re going to make them passable,” he said.
Will Lanxton, a meteorologist with GEMA, said the snow that was falling on Friday morning was expected to turn into freezing rain later in the day before tapering off by midnight.
“This rain on top of snow is going to freeze and make driving worse,” Gov. Brian Kemp cautioned.
Kemp said Georgia’s power companies have prepositioned resources in case winds forecast to reach speeds of up to 20 miles an hour Friday and Saturday topple trees and cause power outages.
Kemp thanked Georgians for heeding the warnings of emergency management officials and for the most part staying off the roads, resulting in light traffic.
Stallings urged motorists to stay home for the rest of Friday into the weekend, so DOT crews can treat the roads.
“Let us clear the roads,” he urged. “It’s much easier without broken-down, disabled vehicles.”
Lanxton said road conditions could remain hazardous into Sunday morning if temperatures stay low enough to refreeze the highways, forcing DOT crews to go back and re-treat.
“We’re going to do our part to stay ahead of it,” McMurry said. “We are 24-7 until this event subsides and everyone is safe.”
by Dave Williams | Jan 9, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Two more U.S. attorneys from Georgia are resigning ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month.
Peter Leary, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, will step down effective Saturday, while Jill Steinberg, his counterpart for the Southern District of Georgia, will be leaving effective Jan. 17.
Ryan Buchanan, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, announced last week that he would be stepping down effective Jan. 19.
Leary, who will be joining an Atlanta law firm, began his federal career in 2007 working on complex civil litigation before he joined the U.S attorney’s office as a prosecutor in 2012.
Raised in Watkinsville, he received undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia, then clerked for U.S. District Judge Hugh Lawson in the Macon-based Middle District.
Steinberg began serving as a U.S. attorney in Savannah in 2023. Before that, she was an assistant U.S. attorney and deputy criminal chief in the Atlanta-based U.S. attorneys’ office and in Washington, D.C., served as associate deputy U.S. attorney general.
In private practice, Steinberg was a partner at Ballard Spahr LLP and an associate at Rogers & Hardin LLP, both in Atlanta.
She earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Georgia and a law degree from Duke University.
by Dave Williams | Jan 9, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp declared a statewide state of emergency Thursday ahead of a winter storm expected to strike the northern half of Georgia on Friday.
A mix of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow will move into western Georgia by sunrise Friday and spread across much of North and Middle Georgia throughout the morning. While the greatest impacts are expected along and north of Interstate 20, snow and/or ice accumulations are possible as far south as Columbus and Macon.
“The Georgia Department of Transportation, along with the Department of Public Safety, began treating roads early this morning,” Kemp said Thursday. “I’m asking all Georgians to help them do their jobs by limiting travel as much as possible in the coming days.”
The state of emergency suspends hours-of-service limitations for commercial vehicles involved in storm-response activities and temporarily increases weight, height, and length limits for commercial vehicles transporting essential supplies. The governor’s order also prohibits price gouging.
Snow and sleet accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are forecast for North Georgia, with up to 2 inches expected in Metro Atlanta and points to the east.
With winds increasing on Saturday, any remaining snow and ice could topple trees and powerlines. Temperatures dropping into the low 20s on Saturday night across North and Middle Georgia could refreeze any remaining moisture by Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon temperatures should reach into the 40s.
by Dave Williams | Jan 9, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Former President Jimmy Carter was remembered Thursday as a man ahead of his time who leaves his country and the world better off for his service.
Georgia’s only president thus far, who died Dec. 29 at the age of 100, was eulogized at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., at a service attended by President Joe Biden and all four living ex-presidents.
“Today, many people think he was from a bygone era,” said Biden, whom Carter had asked to give his eulogy. “In reality, he saw the future, a white Southern Baptist who led on human rights, a decorated veteran who brokered peace … a hardworking farmer who championed conservation, a clean-energy president who redefined the relationship for the vice president.”
Thursday’s service culminated three days of commemorations in the nation’s capital in honor of Carter, who lay in state inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday and Wednesday. Before that, Carter’s casket lay in repose at the Carter Center in Atlanta for several days.
The national funeral service began with a scripture reading by Andrew Young, a Georgian appointed by Carter as the first African American to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Steve Ford, the son of former President Gerald Ford, who lost to Carter in 1976 but later developed a strong friendship with him, and Ted Mondale, the son of Carter Vice President Walter Mondale, delivered eulogies their late fathers wrote for Carter.
Stuart Eizenstat, who served as a domestic advisor inside the Carter White House, described Carter as a Renaissance Man with an array of skills who brought a sense of honesty and decency to the presidency after the Watergate years.
“He was the first president to make honesty a priority for U.S. foreign policy,” Eizenstat said. “He uniquely combined the soft power of human rights with the hard power of rebuilding America’s military. … He may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore, but he belongs in the foothills of making the U.S. stronger and the world safer.”
Grandson Jason Carter talked about Carter’s four-decade post-presidency as the founder of the Carter Center and its mission promoting human rights and the eradication of diseases across the globe. He mentioned Guinea worm disease as an example of his grandfather’s far-reaching contributions.
“That disease existed from the dawn of humanity until Jimmy Carter,” he said.
After the service, Carter’s remains were flown back to Georgia for a private funeral service at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains. He was to be buried beside Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years who died in November 2023 at the age of 96.
